Investment in schools, universities, and hospitals helped lift the overall value of planned building work (excluding housing) by $1 billion over the past year, Statistics New Zealand said today. In the 12 months to July 2016, $6.3 billion of non-residential building work was consented, compared with $5.3 billion in the July 2015 year. Education buildings accounted for half of this increase, with health buildings contributing one-quarter. “Auckland has seen the largest increases over the past year, with half a billion dollars of extra non-residential building work,” business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said. ... (full story)